


House of Memories

by Ralcemns



Series: House of Memories [1]
Category: Brave - Fandom, Frozen - Fandom, House of Memories - Panic! at the Disco (Song), How to Train you Dragon, rise of the guardians, tangled - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-06 13:21:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 33
Words: 16,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6755758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ralcemns/pseuds/Ralcemns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I really shouldn't say much... but this is a story about a kingdom and an heir to the throne.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Throne

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off of a dream I had the night before publishing this. As you can probably see, the name is House of Memories because it's going to go with a plot line that fits that song (by Panic! at the Disco). This also includes a character based off of a real person in it, and she takes the same name as a character in another fic of mine based off of the same person, but the stories are in no way related.

The throne had been empty for too long. Running this kingdom brought back too many memories... and no king or queen wasn't satisfying the townspeople. We could no longer wait for the little ones to grow up and prove themselves. It was time to choose an heir from the five children of five noblemen, and I had to train them.


	2. Jack

Jack arrived at the castle at about the same time as the other four noble-children chosen for being a possible heir to the throne. He noticed a girl with peculiarly long hair, then remembered that some of these young teens had supernatural powers. He hadn't any.  
The five were directed to a large room, supposedly a throne room or ballroom, or both. A sixth person was at the front of the room, back to us. She looked about their age, and Jack assumed that maybe there was a sixth candidate who arrived early. He was proven wrong when she was announced as their trainer.  
"There's no backing out of this now," she said, turning around, and the guards who escorted them in left. "It wasn't your choice to come, and it isn't your choice to leave. You can only go back to your families when you've lost the race to become a monarch. I understand some of you already have powers of your own, but as you probably know, whoever is to be crowned will receive immortality and control over ice and cold. It's my understanding that the two of you have one of those two powers?" She was looking at two of the three girls present.  
"I don't exactly have immortality, ma'am, but I guess I can live forever," the long-haired one corrected fairly sheepishly.  
"Call me Instructor or Teacher unless acknowledging my commands. In that case, you can say 'Yes, ma'am'."  
"Yes, ma'am," the girl repeated in respect.  
"I'll move on to your names, then. Don't ask me to call you by a nickname. Correct me if I mispronounce, but no jokes. Save your jokes for your free time."  
Jack was always a playful one, and almost already he couldn't stand that he wouldn't be able to lighten up training and have fun.  
"Merida, Rapunzel, Elsa, Hiccup, and Jack, yes?" the trainer asked. They all nodded. "Good. Go to the stairs to my left and you'll find a hall. The first two rooms are yours, separated between boys and girls respectively. The things you managed to bring here have been dropped off there. Be sure to be up at six o'clock for your first day. A tip: never displease me," and she left to the opposite stairway.  
When the five found the hall with the rooms, they had to peek inside first to determine which were whose, and then started unpacking. Jack figured he'd better let loose as much as he could between training sessions.  
"Why's your name Hiccup?" he asked his roommate, fishing for a reaction.  
"Don't ask me," Hiccup said, not turning from his unpacking.  
From years of teasing people, Jack categorized him as the type you could easily play with to get a laugh out of other people without causing a real fuss, but not the kind you could get riled up for a chuckle to yourself.  
It was a sort of a small room, so there was a bunk bed to conserve space. It was pushed up longways against the wall of the all-white room, and a dresser was underneath the only window.  
Jack climbed up the ladder-less bunk to the top, claiming it as his own as he was perched upon it. "I want the top drawer in the dresser, since I'm the top bunk," he reasoned. Hiccup only shrugged and put his stuff into the bottom drawer. Jack decided his roommate was no fun at all.  
"What are those books?" he asked, still trying to get something out of Hiccup.  
"Mine," Hiccup stated simply, and he took one of them and a charcoal pencil to his bed. Jack swung his head upside-down, hanging on with his legs, to look at his bunk mate.  
"Dragons?" Jack inquired, referencing Hiccup's drawings. He only glanced up at him in response.  
"Come on!" Jack exclaimed, finally cracking. "You can't be that hard to pester!"  
"Oh believe me, I've had more than my share of it," he explained, not looking up from his paper.  
"Whatever," Jack resigned, and flopped his entire self into his bed. He tried not to dwell on the things he would miss about home as he let sleep find him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize that this is already predictable... but that's only one part. There's so much more about the characters to discover.


	3. A Harsh Ringing

A harsh ringing awoke Hiccup not suddenly, but slowly. It was the kind of awakening in which you feel like you're being pulled out of a tub of molasses. When he finally opened his eyes, he saw Jack, bent over the top bunk like he was last night while Hiccup was drawing, banging the side of the metal supports on the bunk bed with a spoon. Hiccup groaned and turned face down to cover his head with his pillow.  
He'd been looking to escape the constant teasing he'd had at home (and maybe finally make his father proud by becoming king), but it didn't seem like Jack wasn't going to play the role of trickster.  
"Finally, you react!" Jack cheered, and his feet slapped the floor after he'd jumped down.  
"Where in the world do you get a spoon?" Hiccup questioned, sitting up now that Jack had stopped.  
"Call it borrowing," Jack answered, and immediately Hiccup knew he'd stolen it from somewhere.   
"Anyway, it's almost six o'clock, and I'm sure the trainer meant we should be there at that time, so I hope you get dressed fast," and he dashed out of the room.  
Hiccup assumed it was something like five fifty-nine on the clock judging from Jack's playful tone, so he quickly got ready. When he exited his room, he found the one named Rapunzel holding the door open and shouting to someone inside.   
"Merida, come on!" she encouraged, "Teacher's probably gonna have your head or something if you're not there at six o'clock!"  
"Leave me be!" came a desperate groan from inside.   
"It's not my fault if you're dead!" Rapunzel commented before she took off down the stairs. Hiccup followed her hair until he arrived in the throne room from yesterday. Jack and Elsa were there too, but no sign of Merida. There also wasn't a sign of the instructor.  
"I really don't think anymore that we were supposed to meet here!" Hiccup heard a worried Elsa voice to Jack.  
"Why not? She didn't say anywhere else... a." Jack couldn't help himself to a joke with the girl's name.  
"I'm going to look around," she decided, and walked away. Jack ended up following her. Rapunzel and Hiccup came after.  
Eventually they found the instructor outside in a field. The field was neatly mowed, and had multiple training activities such as a track, arching range, pool, and much more.  
"So you've found the place we should be meeting, but you're all tardy," the instructor declared, "it's six nineteen."  
"Um, Teacher," Rapunzel dared to ask, "how do you know the time right down to the minute?"  
"You get a handle on time when you've lived as long as I have," she explained.  
"But you look so young!" Hiccup accidentally let out. The instructor stalked over to him and looked him in the eye with superiority. Meanwhile, Hiccup tried to figure out what he'd done wrong by telling a woman she looked young. He was always such a social klutz.  
"Address me as Instructor or Teacher before you say anything," was all she corrected, but it looked like the remark effected her deeper than that.  
"Your goal is to impress me the more than your peers. Show me your skills, think on your feet, and be strong." She paused. "Where's Merida?"  
"Teacher, she's still in bed, last I saw her," Rapunzel answered more confidently this time.  
"Someone fetch her," the instructor commanded, and Rapunzel was the first and only to dash back inside. Soon after, she brought a reluctant Merida back.  
"Why didn't you come her at six o'clock?" the instructor demanded to know of her.  
"If ye didn't make me rouse so early, I may have arrived timely-like!"  
"Do not speak to me like that!" the instructor snapped, and it was enough to make the sassy Merida compose herself.  
"Now," the instructor continued, "each of you show me your skills."


	4. Take a Bow

"Take a bow and arrow," the teacher instructed after she led them to the archery range. Merida snickered to herself as she thought about how she would cream the other four; she'd practically been shooting arrows since she was born.  
She also thought about how she could have the chance to prove herself to the teacher, and maybe earn some time to sleep in tomorrow.  
"Fire when ready," the teacher instructed as soon as everyone stood in their places. Merida had a perfect bullseye within a second. Hiccup was second to shoot, but he couldn't pull back far enough and his arrow launched a few feet forward into the grass. Jack's arrow was on the very edge of his target, and Elsa's arrow landed only one ring closer to the middle than his. Rapunzel was still trying to figure out the right way to load the arrow and hold the bow.  
The teacher waited only a bit on Rapunzel (who still didn't end up shooting her arrow) before she moved on to the next challenge: swimming.  
Merida considered herself the strongest one in the group based on everyone else's performance in archery, so she thought she'd also be the best in the water.  
The teacher counted down: "3... 2... 1... GO!" and the five jumped into the water. Like she's predicted, Merida touched the other end of the pool first. She watched as Jack came in second, Hiccup third, and Rapunzel fourth. Elsa was still standing dry at the other end of the pool.  
"Elsa!" the teacher scolded, "Go!"  
"... no," Elsa whispered.  
Merida thought the teacher would yell at her student, butt she didn't. "Why not?" she asked firmly.  
"I-I can't control my powers. I'll freeze the pool!"  
"Moving on, then," the teacher said, and everyone else got out of the pool. Merida pouted at the fact that Elsa was gone easier on that herself when they both disobeyed.  
They ran on the track, threw javelins, and navigated a maze. Merida won everything but the maze. To everyone's surprise, Hiccup won that one.  
The final challenge was a sword-less sword duel. The goal was to knock your opponent with a hardy foam stick into the water below. The first two competitors were Raunzel and Hiccup. Rapunzel would've probably beaten him if she hadn't slipped on her hair, so Hiccup moved on to the next round. He went against Elsa then, who was too shy to use force and was easily beaten. Hiccup was almost ecstatic that he'd made it so far, so he'd gained a lot of confidence. To his demise, he charged at his next opponent, Jack, only for him to slide out of the way. Hiccup landed face-down in the water.  
Merida was ready to make Jack eat her dust. She was by far the strongest, and she wouldn't fall for any dodging Jack tried to do. She stepped onto the ring with her foam stick, just about to pummel her opposer. "Come at me ye twig!" she taunted him, and he took the unexpected approach of swinging his heavy faux-sword at the redhead. It wasn't too unexpected for her, though, because she blocked it, knocked his weapon out of her way, and caught Jack off guard enough to smack him into the water. She held her phony blade into the air triumphantly and locked eyes with the teacher. If she hadn't gained extra hours of sleep, she'd definitely gained respect.


	5. Show Me

"Show me to the kitchen, will you, please?" Rapunzel asked a servant ever so kindly. It was after training and she had a hankering for making a pie.  
Once in the kitchen, she started gathering her ingredients. Luckily for her no one else was there, so she had all the space and supplies she needed.  
In the midst of rolling out the dough, she felt a faint tug on her hair. She turned around and saw Merida stepping into her kitchen.  
"Ever think of cuttin' all this hair?" she asked when she noticed Rapunzel looking.  
"Well, no," she replied, "because cutting it would mean losing my power."  
"What is yer power, anyhow?" Merida asked. She also snatched one of the cherries Rapunzel had set aside for the pie.  
"I can heal any sickness or injury," she answered, starting to fit the crust into the pie pan.  
"An' how exactly does that have anythin' to do with yer hair?" Merida wondered.  
"When I sing, it glows, and whatever it's touching gets healed," Rapunzel explained.  
Suddenly Merida started to guffaw. "Yer jokin'!" she exclaimed.  
"No..." Rapunzel corrected, and started on mixing the cherries into a filling just as Merida reached for another one.  
"That is somethin' I've got to see, then," she said, clearly implying that Rapunzel show her right then.  
"Alright," Rapunzel agreed, and she started her song as she mixed. The light snaked through her hair from her scalp to the split ends, and faded once the song was over. Merida stood agape.  
"Holy stars!" she cried out. Then she proceeded to finger every strand of Rapunzel's hair. "This stuff really can immortalize y'u!"  
Rapunzel poured her filling into the crust. "Yup."  
"I'm comin' to y'u anytime I've got sore or cut," Merida decided, then grabbed one more cherry straight from the filling. Finally, she left.  
When the pie was done and cooled, Rapunzel sliced herself a piece. She turned around and jumped a bit in surprise at seeing the teacher.  
"You bake," was all she said.  
"Would you like a slice?" Rapunzel asked, always polite out of habit.  
"Sure," the teacher accepted, unusually casual, and they stood on opposite sides of a counter to eat.  
"What do you think? About being immortal, I mean?" the teacher suddenly asked. The only sound before that had been the scraping of forks on plates and the gnawing of teeth on crust and filling.  
"I wouldn't really know; I'm only a teenager," she answered.  
"Yes, of course," the teacher agreed, looking back down at her own slice of pie. After a moment, she asked, "Does the prospect of living forever scare you?"  
"I... really haven't thought about it," Rapunzel admitted.  
"It scares me," the teacher said. "What if you live all there is to live and get bored? What if you get careless and throwing yourself off a cliff for fun? What if you get too attached to someone and have to watch them die?"  
Rapunzel didn't ask why the teacher ever thought about becoming immortal.  
"Sorry if I've scared you," the teacher apologized, "you have a fantastic gift that shouldn't be feared," and she left.  
Somehow, Rapunzel knew that what the teacher said was a little more heartfelt than what she would want her to know.


	6. Why You Hiding?

"Why you hiding?" Elsa suddenly heard someone say. She placed the voice as Jack's as she turned from the bookshelf she was facing to face him.  
"I'm not hiding," Elsa tried to convince him, and she turned back to the shelf. She was in the library, looking for a book.  
"But you are, all the time," Jack said otherwise, and he leaned against the shelf she was looking at. She expertly ignored him.  
"Come on, I'll show you how to have fun," he pleaded. "You look like you've never had any."  
"That's not true," she had to argue.  
"Really? When's the last time you had fun?" Jack asked.  
"I'll have much fun reading my book," Elsa educated him, looking him in the eye that time because she'd found the book she was looking for. She tried to walk away to a chair, but he only followed. She tried to keep her eyes on her book and ignore him, but she just couldn't focus when he hovered over her so persistently.  
"What did you have planned?" she asked, giving in.  
"Snowball fight?" he asked.  
"Snowball fight?" she repeated. It wasn't winter; there was no snow outside.  
"You have power over ice, you know. Use it," he suggested.  
"Oh, no!" Elsa disagreed shaking her head furiously. "I can't control it!"  
"Sure you can!" Jack encouraged. "I haven't had ice power, but I bet I could teach you something."  
"Really, Jack?" she questioned dubiously.  
"No, only call me Instructor or Teacher," he said, mocking the instructor. Elsa couldn't suppress her giggle, so Jack already knew she was interested.  
"Okay, Instructor," she said, playing along, "instruct me."  
Jack led Elsa outside to the pool. It was dark out, and the others were probably getting ready for bed.  
"Freeze this over, will ya?" Jack asked of Elsa. Tentatively, she reached her foot out to the water.  
"And relax!" he said, laughing. This really did make her relax, and she pushed her foot down. As soon as she shoe touched the water the entire pool froze, and she slipped due to the force with which she thrust her foot. Jack laughed harder, then extended his hand to help her up. She took it and stood, but slipped again, this time onto Jack. He caught her, and they stood like that for only two seconds. Immediately after Elsa backed up, slipping a little, but catching herself.  
"Make us some snowballs, and have fun with it!" Jack told her. She extended her hands cautiously, then flicked them quickly. Dozens of snowballs fell from where her hands had been.  
"See, you can control it fine!" Jack supported. Elsa couldn't help but smile.  
"These are mine, now," Jack said, gathering the snowballs in his arms, "because you can make your own." He tossed one in the air, then threw it at Elsa. She screamed at first, stunned, but then laughed a little. Then she picked one up and threw it at him, missing because he dodged it, and next realizing that she  
could indeed make her own. So she formed one in her hand and launched it at Jack. It hit him on his shoulder. They both laughed.  
This went on for hours as the two excitedly threw snowballs at each other. One eventually knocked Elsa to the ground, but she didn't care. She'd never felt better in her entire life. Jack came over to help her up, and in response she smashed a snowball into his face. She laughed harder than she ever had before, and he wiped the snow off his face. They both giggled for a bit, then ended up just looking at each other smiling.  
Elsa had the sudden desire to bring Jack close to her. She, bolder than she normally would have been, hugged Jack, breathing in his scent. He hugged her back. They pulled away after a bit, but then suddenly came close again. It happened so fast; Jack had taken Elsa's head in his hands and pressed her lips to his. Soon after Elsa put her hands around his head, kissing for only a few seconds more. Then they both pulled away, fully realizing what they were doing, and both red-faced.  
Jack suddenly felt how cold he really was and used it as an excuse. "I'm freezing, I've gotta get inside," he said, then rushing indoors.  
Elsa held her own head in her hands, wondering what in the world she'd just let herself do. All her walls started building back up, and she was guarded again. She stepped onto the grass, not really sure how to take away all the ice she'd just created, and decided to leave it that way. She retreated inside, being sure to not be in the same vicinity as Jack, and made her way to her own bed. As she thought, everyone else was sound asleep.


	7. For the First Time

For the first time, Jack didn't wake up early. He was usually an early-bird, and yesterday he'd woken up just to see if he could really annoy Hiccup. Last night was a late night, though, and that made all the difference.  
The memories of last night came back to him suddenly, and he say bolt upright, red-faced thinking about it. He'd never been embarrassed before, but he'd also never kissed someone, either. Subconsciously, he decided not to tell anyone, and hoped Elsa had the same idea.  
He had no idea what time it was, but rushed to get dressed and get to the field nonetheless. Luckily he want late, but he'd also arrived at the same time as the others, including Elsa. They caught each other's eyes momentarily upon noticing each other's presence, but quickly looked away. He secretly hoped no one noticed anything between them.  
"No annoying spoon-clanging today, huh, Jack?" Hiccup said passive-aggressively. Jack only shook his head silently.  
"Something happen?" Hiccup decided to inquire.  
"No!" Jack said a little too hastily, lifting his eyes up from where they'd decided to stay most of the time that morning: the ground.   
"Okay..." Hiccup said, letting the subject drop. They'd been standing in a line like yesterday, only this time the trainer wasn't there.  
She arrived late. "Sorry that I'm twenty-six minutes late," she apologized. "I had a late night." Jack silently related to that statement.  
"Now," she commanded, regaining her usual composure a bit, "everybody runs ten laps around this entire field."  
Most were shocked at the command, since the field was large, but Jack was caught up in his thoughts. Truly they never stayed on the same topic, but it was all beating around the bush about how he felt about Elsa. He didn't know why he kissed her, it just happened.  
Once he realized that Hiccup passed him up, Jack started to sprint. Soon he came back in front of Hiccup, zoomed right past Elsa without a glance, and even beat Merida to ten laps. The exhaustion came at him all at once as he collapsed practically at the trainer's feet.  
"Good job," she mumbled to him. Apparently she considered it impressive to have outrun Merida.  
Everyone else eventually finished their ten laps, Elsa last even behind Hiccup. While Jack's coping method seeming to be speeding up, hers seemed to be slowing down. She was the only one who didn't sit down to rest.  
"Okay, everyone, twenty push-ups," the trainer ordered. Everyone groaned except for Elsa and Jack; Jack was still panting, and Elsa still had energy.  
When everyone else completed their push-ups, Jack still hadn't started his. The trainer kicked him, but he didn't move. She kicked him a little harder, and he fell over.  
"We're waiting on you, Jack," she said.  
"Can I take a day off?" he asked, making eye-contact now.  
"A day off?" the trainer scoffed. "It's your second day! And no one takes a day off. No one talks to me without first calling me Instructor or Teacher first, either. Stand up."  
Jack stood, but with shaky legs, he collapsed again. He was truly worn out from that sprinting, and his lack of sleep was starting to take a toll on him.  
"Fine. Work at your own pace, but you're doing everything the others do, and you're doing them today," the trainer compromised. "Make sure you remember it all," and she led the other four to a different part of the field.  
Once Jack found out he couldn't hear anything the trainer was saying, he realized this was more of a punishment than a compromise.


	8. Hiccup Noticed

Hiccup noticed that Jack hadn't been acting like this trickster self that day. He didn't think anyone else (besides the instructor) was acting unusual until he passed and finished his ten laps before Elsa. He considered the thought that Elsa and Jack's off-moods had something to do with each other, but he also considered the fact that he instructor was feeling off as well, and concluded that perhaps none were related.  
Hiccup also noticed the big black thing that appeared in the sky. He was the first to noticed. "Oh, no," he said, knowing exactly who was in the sky. "Toothless, no!" he shouted, which drew some attention from his peers. They looked to where he was looking, and Rapunzel screamed.  
"Holy stars!" Merida exclaimed, and Toothless spread his wings just in time to slow down from the dive he did.  
"Toothless, I thought I specifically told you NOT to follow me," Hiccup scolded his pet.  
"That's a DRAGON!" Elsa shouted. The grass around her frosted over a bit.  
"He's yours?" the instructor inquired. She sounded impressed.  
"Yes, this stupid beast is mine," Hiccup said, and Toothless whacked him on the back of his head with his tail for it.  
"Can you fly him?" the instructor asked, intrigued.  
"Yeah, of course," Hiccup replied, and mounted his nightfury. "C'mon, Toothless, show her some tricks," and immediately the dragon zipped up into the air. He did a few flips and free-falls, then landed gracefully back on the ground.  
"I used to have a dragon..." the instructor comments nostalgically, petting Toothless. Then suddenly she stopped mid-pet, and brought her hand to her side, frowning.  
"The dragon has to go home," she demanded unexpectedly. Toothless bared the teeth he had hidden in his gums only a few moments before. The instructor didn't flinch.  
"Toothless, go on; I'd told you to stay at home anyway," Hiccup commanded reluctantly. Toothless only scooped Hiccup closer with his tail.  
The instructor sighed. "Keep the dragon, then, but he can't be here during training. He can't be in the castle, either, or break anything, or..."  
"Toothless is a responsible dragon. Aren't you Toothless?" Hiccup said. Toothless responded by flying to the roof of the castle watching everyone like a puppy. "See?"  
The instructor closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Hiccup noticed by her slight shudder this was less out of frustration and more out of whatever nostalgia she'd been through when she'd been interested in Toothless.


	9. Holy Stars

"Holy stars!" Merida repeated under her breath as she watched the dragon perch itself on the roof. She'd never been that close to one before.  
Training was over at that point, and everyone headed back to the castle. On the way over, they passed Jack, who stood up at the sight of them.  
"Instructor," he said, "I'm sorry, but I didn't hear a word you said over there, so I have no idea what to catch up on."  
"Just do the twenty push-ups," she said, exasperated, and she continued to the castle in a daze. Everyone else was shocked that he basically got the free pass he asked for earlier.  
Jack went right to the twenty push-ups, working vigorously, and the other teens moved on.  
"I'm going to bake cookies if anybody wants some, in about thirty minutes," Rapunzel announced, and she headed off to the kitchen. Merida and Elsa continued on the the girls' room, Elsa looking increasingly nervous as the distance decreased. When Merida closed the door to the room, Elsa exploded.  
"I really really really really really REALLY need to get this off my chest!" she exclaimed. "You have to promise not to tell a soul!"  
"Um, okay," Merida agreed.  
"I kissed Jack!" Elsa said in an outburst.  
Merida waited for more, but received none. "Is... is that it?"  
"It's EVERYTHING! What have I DONE, Merida?!"  
"Y'u kissed a guy... that ye like, I hope," Merida explained. "Do y'u?"  
Elsa stared at the ground and sat on her bottom bunk. "... yeah," she finally concluded.  
"Then what's yer problem?"  
Elsa searched for one before giving an answer. "He might not like me back!" she said, pointing.  
"I'm sure he does," Merida reassured her, "just look at how discombobulated he was at trainin' today."  
Elsa nodded slowly as if she understood. Merida sat on her bed, which was opposite the bunk bed Elsa sat on.  
"How do we communicate that we have these feelings for each other?" Elsa inquired.  
"Don't ask me," Merida said, laying down. "The last time I was in a relationship I was offered a husband, and I turned him down."  
"Oh," Elsa said. Then they were silent.


	10. A Gentle Sobbing

A gentle sobbing was heard from down the hall by Rapunzel. Being the nurturer that she was, she decided to go to whoever was crying. She was taken aback to see the teacher, head in hands, in what seemed to be an office of some sort. Her back was turned to her.  
"Can I help you?" Rapunzel asked variously. She'd grown used to not addressing her by Insctuctor or Teacher before speaking when outside of training.  
The teacher spun around, quickly wiping off her face. "No," she replied. A tear rolled down her cheek, so she addedd, "Unless your hair could heal a broken heart!" It was meant as a joke, and the teacher tried to throw in a chuckle, but it didn't work.  
Rapunzel sat on the ground next to the teacher. "What's troubling you?" She may not have been able to heal with her hair, but she was still an expert in emotional mending.  
"Nothing," the teacher said.  
"I wouldn't call a broken heart nothing," Rapunzel teased, trying to figure out the matter without prying.  
"Nothing you need to know, that is," the teacher corrected a little harshly.  
"Nothing about immortality...?" Rapunzel whispered, knowing she'd probably crossed too far over the line. Her suspicions were confirmed when the teacher buried her head in her folded arms on her desk to sob.  
"Being immortal isn't fair! It isn't fair!" the teacher cried with a muffled wail.  
"Would you like to tell me more?" Rapunzel asked, still wanting to be polite, and not wanting to make her teacher uncomfortable.  
"No," the teacher commanded, raising her red face to Rapunzel. "Get out of here."  
Rapunzel rose quickly, but walked slowly away just in case the teacher changed her mind. She only stared at Rapunzel until she gathered all her hair and closed the door.  
Rapunzel thought before that maybe the teacher had been having an issue with an immortal, but now she thought that immortal was the teacher.


	11. Not Sure How to Act

Not sure how to act, Elsa wandered around the castle, her goal to run into Jack, although she secretly wished she didn’t have to confront him. She knew she had to sort everything out with him, but it still made her extremely nervous.  
Instead of happening upon the playful boy, she found Rapunzel scurrying away from a room.  
“The kitchen is that way if you wanted one of my freshly-baked cookies I said about earlier,” she told Elsa, and pointed the direction.  
“Could you possibly deliver a message for me?” Elsa decided to ask.  
“What is it?” Rapunzel inquired.  
Elsa hesitated. “Could you tell Jack… that I’m not looking to avoid him? That I actually wouldn’t mind… hanging out with him?”  
“Sure,” Rapunzel agreed, and bit of question in her voice as to why, but no hint that she wouldn’t carry out the favor.  
Elsa went to the kitchen for a cookie nonetheless, only to find Jack there as well. She had no idea what to do, so she just grabbed her cookie and leaned on a counter, back facing to Jack. Jack leaned on the saame counter, but on the opposite end, and his back also faced her. They ate cookies in silence.  
Eventually, of course, Rapunzel came into the room because she’d been looking around to deliver Elsa’s message.  
“Hey Jack… oh, Elsa, hi, did you already tell Jack?” Rapunzel asked.  
"You can tell him," Elsa mumbled, going to get another cookie to seem casual.  
"Okay, um, Jack, Elsa wants you to know that she doesn't want to avoid you, and that she wouldn't mind hanging out sometime," Rapunzel relayed. Elsa was too red to turn around or even pick up that cookie she was going for.  
"Oh," was all Jack said, and Elsa couldn't tell if it was because he didn't care or if he was too shy; she wasn't looking at his facial expression.  
"I delivered it, Elsa," Rapunzel stated as if she didn't already know, and she grabbed a cookie before she walked out.  
After a few moments of silence, Jack wondered, "So you wanted to hang out?"  
"Yeah," Elsa confirmed, and she found the courage to turn around. She saw Jack had already been facing her. He was smiling. She couldn't help but smile back.  
"Then what do you say we go have some fun?" he inquired, fully returned to his playful self.  
"I'd love that," Elsa agreed, completely honest.


	12. Jack, the Trickster

Jack, the trickster, was ready for some fun. He pulled Elsa through the castle, deciding who to prank, when he happened upon Hiccup. He recalled how he analyzed the kid as the perfect one to tease without getting into real trouble, but also while getting a big laugh out of those around him. He really wanted to break through Elsa's wall of sadness like he had last night at the snowbal fight; it made him happy to see her happy.  
"We're gonna prank Hiccup somehow," Jack whispered to Elsa once he pulled her out of view.  
"Really?" Elsa wondered, not quite used to stepping over the bounds she set up for herself, much less the ones set up by other people.  
"Have any ideas?" Jack asked her.  
"Um... snowball?" Elsa suggested, still dwelling on last night.  
"Sure; hand me one," Jack ordered, and she constructed one into Jack's hand within a second.  
Jack pulled his arm back slowly, then launched the hunk of ice at the clueless Hiccup.  
"What the...?" they heard Hiccup mutter, spinning around repeatedly wondering where in the world an ice ball could've come from.  
Jack and Elsa snickered, but Jack shushed Elsa and motioned for her to make another snowball. He repeated the throw.  
You could see Hiccup's realization just before he called out: "Alright, Jack, what sorr of a deal did you strike with Elsa to get snowballs from her?"  
Jack couldn't hold back his laughing anymore, and even Elsa cackled with him. Eventually Hiccup came around the corner they were hiding behind with a look of pure disappointment on his face.  
"How did I know?" he whined to nobody in particular.  
"I don't know, man, I just don't know," Jack joked, and then he clapped Hiccup on the back hard enough to make him jolt. Jack laughed some more. Hiccup rolled his eyes and strolled away; apathy rolling in as it usually did.  
"That was pretty funny," Elsa commented.  
"And not aloud!" a voice -- the trainer's --- suddenly burst out. Elsa and Jack spun around to see her. He noticed she was a bit red-faced, as if from crying.  
"You're not supposed to torment other students!" the trainer continued to scold.  
"It's not torment; it's fun!"  
Jack argued.  
"It's not fun to be left alone!" the trainer snarled, pointing an aggressive finger in Jack's face and storming off.  
Elsa felt ashamed, but Jack's consolation was emptier than it would have normally been. He was distracted by the trainer's last sentence: 'it's not fun to be left alone'. To him, it seemed like she was no longer referring to Hiccup, or even bullying in general.  
What she had said came from personal experience.


	13. Remembering

Remembering that he at least had Toothless as a companion, Hiccup tried to shrug off the snowball prank. It wasn't so much that he truly minded being pelted with ice, but that he was really tired of being the butt of everyone's jokes. Besides some respect earned for being able to train a dragon, no one back home really considered him of any use. Strength was highly valued in his hometown.  
"Toothless!" Hiccup called up at the roof once he was outside. The nightfury poked his head over the edge only a second after.  
"Wanna fly around for a while?" Hiccup asked through a shout. Toothless swooped down and offered his back to his owner. Hiccup climbed aboard.  
After practicing some tricks Hiccup thought he'd never be able to perfect with his dragon if (he hoped it was when) he became king, they landed smoothly onto the field.  
"Hey, where've you been drinking water?" Hiccup wondered to his pet. Toothless motioned to the pool.  
"Uh, buddy, don't do that. Ever. We're supposed to swim in that." Hiccup noticed a forest at the edge of the field. "I'm sure there's a creek or something you can drink out of in there, c'mon," and he led Toothless through the trees. They did find a creek, but also the instructor sitting at it's edge. She spun around as soon as she'd heard them crunching through the leaves.  
"Toothless just needed a drink." Hiccup quickly added, "Instructor." She only nodded and turned back to face the water.  
A few moments after Toothless had finished sipping, the instructor asked, "Are you very attached to your dragon?"  
"Well... yeah," Hiccup answered.  
"I can't really disqualify you or tell you to try and lose, but becoming immortal will be Hell when your loved ones are mortal."  
"That's..." Hiccup didn't know what he was going to say. The realization had dawned on him. He wanted to impress his father and finally prove himself worthy to those he knew, but it would never be worth watching them die as he continued to live, much less watching his dragon die while he stayed the same.  
Before he'd wanted with all his heart to be king, but now, with even more than his heart, he wanted to leave this horrible race.


	14. Merida Tended to Know Everyone's Secrets

Merida tended to know everyone's secrets just because people found her comfortable to talk to. She guessed it was because no one had to worry about what she thought of them simply because she didn't care about any sort of drama people were caught up in. All she cared for was the wind in her face and a bow in her hands.  
She'd been aching for that bow back in her hands for the past two days. She needed to run without a specified limit on when to start and stop. She wanted the freedom of sprinting on her own will.  
Merida dug through her cluttered room to wrap her hands around her bow. She also grabbed her quiver stocked full of arrows, then made her way to the tallest window she could find. She took a single arrow once at that window and shot it somewhere toward the woods. She had a game she liked to play where she would shoot an arrow randomly, then try to find it. She was playing that game now.  
Digging her way past trees and through brush, Merida found herself feeling colder. Yes, the deeper she went into the forest, the chillier the air was. Eventually she found her arrow at the base of a tree, but she decided to explore why it was so freezing; the sun was shining just fine through the leaves.  
Looking at the ground, Merida saw the grass had frosted over. Suddenly she realized it must have been Elsa, so she approached quietly. She arrived in a small clearing with a creek in the middle, and snow seemed to be falling from the leaves; the powder coated every blade of grass.  
The creek was also frozen over, but at its edge didn't sit Elsa: it was the teacher. Merida didn't want to interrupt her apparent sobbing, but she felt like she should sneak around anymore. She also wanted to know why in the world it was snowing.  
"Ah... why's it snowin' without Elsa here?" she asked.  
The teacher took a sharp, noisy breath in. She was silent for a few seconds, then let out a wail.  
"I can't take it anymore, Merida! I'm so broken, now my powers reveal my feelings!"  
"This is y'u?" Merida wondered in awe. "Why didn't y'u tell us y'u had ice pow'r!"  
"Because it came along with with the curse of immortality," the teacher replied.  
Merida tried to understand what she meant, so the teacher said, "Remember Queen Gracie?"  
It suddenly hit her! The powers bestowed upon the new king or queen were ice and immortality, and this was the previous queen sitting right in front of her.  
Merida took a few steps forward to stand behind the former monarch. Someone had poured their secrets into her again, but this time she was intrigued. "Why'd y'u step down from the throne?"  
"My heart was broken because I'd incautiously let myself fall in love, only to outlive the sweet boy. I ran away from the throne as if I could abandon being immortal along with it," she explained. "I was supposed to have a child before I stepped down so I could pass along the crown, but there was a backup plan to train young children until they were old enough to rule. I'd already waited too long on my self-afflicted exile to return and start the training, and the townspeople were getting impatient. I had to skip the years of choosing between children and go right to the youths, choosing them in only a couple days. There's a ball in two days I was up posed to tell you all about tomorrow, and as a surprise to you the next leader would be chosen." She let out a few more sobs. "I can't handle the burden of bestowing Hell upon any of you, so I chose someone else to you between you."  
"Does the next monarch 'AVE to become immortal?" Merida asked.  
"Yes," Gracie answered, "it ensures that the kingdom never falls. It also means we never lose a war with the ruler on the battlefield."  
"What about the ice?"  
"Wars without such a powerful weapon only waste time." Merida shivered at the thought of what gruesome tasks ice was really capable of.  
"Don't go around spreading this news, please," Gracie requested as she turned around. "I don't want to scare the others out of something that has to be done, although I'm afraid I already have."  
Merida nodded and made her way back to the castle. She felt the cold behind her disappear, knowing that Gracie had cleaned up her snowy mess. She also knew that Gracie had bottled her story back up along with it.


	15. Get Yourselves Dolled Up

"Get yourselves dolled up tomorrow," the teacher instructed after training that day, "because there's going to be a ball instead of training that day. It's to celebrate the incoming of a new king or queen, which will be one of you, so continue to try and impress me all the way until the day one of you is chosen. You are dismissed."  
Rapunzel was excited to hear this news. She considered the face one of the many canvases she was talented at painting on, and she had the great idea of making herself a dress for the occasion. She was also very obviously skilled in the hair department.  
When she and the other two girls got back to the room, she had another idea.  
"Hey, Elsa, Merida," she addressed them, "how about I make us ALL some dresses for tomorrow?"  
"That sounds great," Elsa agreed.  
"So long as y'u don't frill me dress up!" Merida conditioned, and Rapunzel took that as a yes. Then she went through her things to find a pen and paper.  
"What do you guys want your dresses to look like?" she asked, ready to write it down.  
"Whatever you think," Elsa shrugged, then she was lost to the book she was reading.  
"I'm not sure," Merida conspired, "I'm not one to pick out me clothes. I'll just have to monitor y'u to make sure y'u don't muck it up!"  
Rapunzel nodded, measured and recorded their sizes, then was off to find fabric and a sewing machine.  
Many hours later, she came back to the room with two darling dresses. Merida wouldn't let Rapunzel make one much different from the one she wore everyday, but Elsa's was the sparkliest, most pale-blue and silver dress you ever did see. Rapunzel had modeled it after Elsa's ice powers. Her own dress was a golden version of her usual one, but had a pudgier skirt. Merida's was of the same moderation, but the same color, sleeves, and bodice. Tomorrow, she'd be doing their makeup.   
She was so excited for it all, but most of all to see her family again. Her only mistake was assuming that they were invited.


	16. You're Beautiful

"You're beautiful!" Rapunzel exclaimed once she finished using brushes and pencils all over Elsa's face.  
"Oh, stop," Elsa said, not one for attention.  
"No, really, look," Rapunzel reiterated, and she held up her hand mirror for Elsa to see. She had to admit she didn't look half bad.  
"Aw, man, I didn't make any shoes!" Rapunzel realized.  
"That's alright," Merida said, opening the door, "I'm goin' to see if I can get aw'y wi' goin' barefoot," and she waltzed right out the door.  
"I... could make some?" Elsa offered; it was less of an offer and more of a question of her ice capabilities.  
"Oh, with ice?" Rapunzel marveled. "Sorry, I don't think that would match my dress, but you should do that for you!"  
Elsa sat and hiked up her dress to expose her feet. With a wave of her hand shoes were made, and they had the appearance of ice fractals.  
"That's amazing!" Rapunzel squealed, bending down to get a closer look.  
"Thank you," Elsa blushed. "For the dress, too."  
"It was no problem," Rapunzel assured, "I had fun making it."  
Thy made their way down to the ballroom where the boys already stood in line behind a curtain, waiting their turn to be announced.  
It was Jack's turn as the girls got in the line, Elsa taking the end of it. After the other three had been announced, she got nervous, and became aware of a think layer of frost freezing over the floor. She had no time to worry about that because she heard her name called.  
Pushing past the curtain, Elsa was almost blinded by the light that was shed onto the shining tile floor by the magnificent crystal chandeliers. In front of her was a grand staircase, and she grasped the side railing on her way down as so not to trip. She was faintly aware of the stairs frosting over with every step she took. Only when she reached the bottom did she realized that she'd been clapped for her entire journey down. It made her face flush.  
She glanced around for Jack until she made eye contact with a man striding towards her. He bowed and introduced himself as, "Prince Hans, of the Southern Isles." Elsa returned the introduction with a curtsy.  
"May I have this dance?" Hans asked.  
"Certainly," Elsa agreed, continuing to spit out everything she'd learned from years of etiquette classes.  
Elsa and Hans danced for a while until he asked if she wanted refreshments. She agreed to a bite and a drink, and they chatted while they did.  
During conversation Elsa started to get nervous and flustered, and she got increasingly sweaty despite being a walking cooling system. She asked to go to the balcony for a bit of fresh air, and Hans agreed to go with her.  
On the balcony, Hans said, "Your dress is absolutely radiant."  
"Oh, well, Rapunzel made it," Elsa said, kicking her foot to dismiss the compliment.  
"And the shoes?" he asked, noticing them when she kicked her foot.  
"Oh, yeah, I made those," she remembered.  
"Well, it truly is the person that makes any outfit look at beautiful as it does," Hans noted. Elsa blushed and pretended to fix her hair in order to hide her face.  
Suddenly there was a hand on the small of her back and on the back of her head, and in less than a second Hans's lips were smushed against hers. It took her a few seconds to regain her wits and figure out what in the world was going on, and what to do about it.


	17. Wow

"Wow," Jack whispered under his breath, which had been practically blown away from him as he watched what he was wowing at: Elsa. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and especially so as of that moment. She was wearing a sleeveless dress that was a gradient from pale-blue to an icy sort of deep blue. It had silver sparkles on every inch of it, and her hair was up in the most beautiful twist of braid and bun. Jack was stunned. He continued to watch as she was illuminated by the magical frost she left in her wake.  
Jack snapped out of his trance as soon as everyone stopped clapping, and he rushed over to the bottom of the stairs to ask Elsa for a dance. Only, when he arrived there, she wasn't.  
He looked around for her until he was stopped by two older men.  
"This must be Jack!" one of them bellowed.  
"How are you doing, boy?" the other of them asked jubilantly, and clapped him on the back. Jack was anxious to find Elsa, but he knew he couldn't get out of talking to these fellows.  
"Uh, good," he answered, continuing to scan the crowd for that beautiful girl.  
"I hear you've got good chances of becoming king!" one of them cheered.  
"Uh-huh," Jack replied, only speaking absentmindedly.  
Luckily the two fellows were unsatisfied with Jack's lack-luster answer, so they said, "Well, may the best one rule this country," and left with that.  
Jack zipped off as soon as they did, looking around for Elsa still.  
"Jack!" another voice called out to stop him from continuing his quest. It was Rapunzel.  
"What, Rapunzel?" Jack snapped a little too angrily because he hated to have to stop again.  
Rapunzel didn't seem to mind because she was worried about other things. "Our families WERE supposed to come, right?" she asked like a lost puppy.  
Jack realized he hadn't seen or heard anything of his family, either. "I don't know; I didn't hear that they were."  
"I'd just assumed that they'd HAVE to be invited to this special party!" Rapunzel whined, getting a little teary.  
"I'm sorry, Rapunzel, but have you seen Elsa?" Jack had to ask.  
"I think she went out to the balcony," she wimpered, jerking a thumb in the general direction of it.  
"Thanks," Jack mumbled hasilty, and he rushed as fast as he could through the crowds as he could in nice shoes. He didn't want Elsa to slip somewhere else again, and he also wanted to have as much dancing time with her as he could.  
When he got to the balcony, the first thing he noticed was Elsa, whose back was to him. Her face was to a man he didn't know, who locked eyes with him. As soon as he did, the man grabbed Elsa by the back and the head and started kissing her.  
"HEY!" Jack shouted extremely aggressively, and and slammed the man into the balcony railing with all his might. Then he socked him in the face with even more force than that.  
"Hey, hey!" he heard someone else behind him, not Elsa, say as they tried to pull him off of the man. Jack recognized the person as Hiccup, who had apparently only just arrived.


	18. Stop It

"Stop it!" Hiccup shouted at Jack after he finally peeled him off of whoever it was that apparently made Jack mad. Hiccup had only seen the punch happen, and he held him back just before Jack could give the man another knock to the face.  
Jack struggled overly much in Hiccup's arms, and eventually Hiccup fell over because of it. Jack ripped out of his arms easily then and stood back up, pointing an accusing finger in the man's face  
"YOU DON'T KISS ELSA," Jack fumed. Hiccup looked over to Elsa at the mention of her, who looked incredibly flustered at the whole situation.  
"She kissed me, so back off!" Hans snapped.  
"LIAR! You saw me, then just GRABBED her! You don't just GRAB women!" Jack snarled back.  
"Jack, let's just go," Elsa said softly, having regained some of her wits.  
"Elsa, he treated you unfairly! And he's got no right to kiss you when you're..." Jack faltered. Hiccup could only guess what he'd stopped mid-sentence to not say.  
"Come on, Jack," Elsa insisted, having abut more of a voice, and she took his hand and pulled him back inside. Hiccup was left outside with the stranger.  
"I trust Jack over you, you know," Hiccup commented after a few moments of silence.  
"That's too bad," the man said smoothly, but bumped into Hiccup's shoulder harshly --- and purposefully -- as if to send a message of strength.  
"I'm stronger than you," the shove seemed to say for him, "so you better watch out."


	19. Ballroom Blitz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: this chapter is where the violence comes in

"Ballroom blitz" were the only words that flashed through Merida's mind as the scene started to unfold: blood was splattered on the floor, lives had been lost, and a giant chandelier was falling from the ceiling. However, there were multiple other scenes that led up to this one.  
Prior, Merida had been hovering around the buffet table, snacking as she felt the need. The skirt of her dress was too big, and she didn't like the way it sloshed around her feet from her waist when she walked, so she mostly stayed put.  
Suddenly a scream erupted from the crowd. Everyone froze, looking for the victim, and the only sound was of a glass shattering. Merida ignored the swoosh of her dress to make her way to where everyone started to gather: a bloodied, limp body.  
"Rapunzel!" Merida immediately called out, and hoped the long-haired healed would come quickly. She didn't know the corpse, but she knew someone did. Someone cared that this person be alive.  
"Rapunzel!" Merida called out once again, for the blonde still hadn't come. She thought perhaps she was in the bathroom, so she rushed to check in there.  
Turning a corner, she was suddenly whipped around and pinned to a wall. She realized a knife was at her throat when she felt a tiny prick on her skin from the blade.  
Her attacker was to her side, and she couldn't turn her head to see them because otherwise her neck would be slit. Instead, she memorized the hand. It looked masculine.  
"If you're chosen, step down and choose Elsa," the attacker hissed. Merida also tried to memorize his voice, too (which was definitely masculine), despite it being hard to detect and match because he was whispering.  
"Why should I?" Merida boldly questioned, also whispering; one part because she didn't want to aggravate the attacker too much, and another part because that knife was really close to her throat.  
"Because you want your life," the attacker threatened, and he moved the weapon close enough to her neck to make the blood run down her chest.  
"Leave me be, then!" Merida snapped, trying to seem like she was implying to comply, and thankfully the attacker pulled back the knife. He dashed off before she could glimpse him.  
Merida grasped her throat and inhaled deeply, drinking the air, coughing between each gulp. Then she looked at her hands, surely stained with all the red she saw on them now, and she continued on her way to the bathroom.  
The first thing she noticed when she got there was blood, but it wasn't her own. On the mirror, the words "PLAY ALONG, GINGER" were scrabbled in blood, covering her reflection. It was a message obviously left for her, but whose blood did the murderer shed so near and so fast in order to write it?  
Merida's blood ran cold as soon as she realized Rapunzel wasn't in the ballroom when she called, not was she in the bathroom. It was possible that Rapunzel could've been gone had returned to the ballroom during Merida's confrontation with the villain, but somehow she knew that wasn't the case.  
She sprinted down the hall, being slowed by her swooping dress. She growled, then ran to the girls' room to change quickly into her usual dress. She screamed as soon as she saw what was behind the door she swung open.  
It was Rapunzel, tied up in her own bloodstained hair and hanging from the top bunk -- Rapunzel's bunk. Her eyes were glossed over, and stared out blankly.  
This time, there were blood-words scribbled on the floor. They read "BLONDIE WOULDN'T PLAY ALONG". The repeated use of calling people by their hair color made Merida cringe.  
She was absolutely horrified, almost to tears. Then she realized that Rapunzel's hair might still work.  
Conveniently, the murderer hadn't cut it. Either he didn't know its power, or he was caught up in the tying her up part of his twisted scheme.  
Desperately trying to remember the song Rapunzel had sang for her only a few days ago, she tried every combination of possible lyrics she could.  
"Flower... gleam... and glow! Let y'ur power shine, or somethin', please!" Merida shouted. The hair at Rapunzel's scalp started to shine, so Merida quickly spat out more words.  
"Reverse the clock, er, make the clock reverse! Bring back what once was mine!" The hair was lit up just about halfway through its seventy feet, and the rest of the words to the song came flooding back to Merida.  
"Heal what has been hurt! Change the fates' design! Save what has been lost! Bring back what once was mine!"  
A few seconds after she finished singing, the hair started to fade. Rapunzel suddenly jerked, swinging her entire body forward, making Merida jump back. Then Rapunzel started screaming and struggling, and Merida had to put up a fight in order to untie her.  
Rapunzel fell onto the floor once out of her cocoon and acted out the flight response as she scrambled towards the wall in terror.  
"NO! STOP!" Rapunzel continued to scream.  
Merida screamed back, "RAPUNZEL! IT'S MERIDA! CALM Y'UR STARS!"  
Rapunzel stopped spazzing a bit more, finally calming enough to turn around and look at Merida.  
"I died," she suddenly realized.  
"Y're welcome f'r singin' y'ur song an' all that, but we've got to move!" Merida explained. "Whoever killed y'u wants Elsa to be queen or somethin', so we have to see if he's threatened any of the rest of us!" She grabbed Rapunzel's hand and tried to pull her towards the door, but she weaseled out of her grasp and retreated back to the corner.  
"I'm not going back out there!" Rapunzel wimpered, shaking her head violently. Merida realized she was traumatized.  
"I'm lockin' the door on me way out then, okay?" Merida offered. Rapunzel gave a small, shaky nod.  
Merida first changed to her comfortable dress, then kept her word about locking the door. She'd also grabbed her bow and slung her quiver around her shoulder; she'd need a weapon.  
She dashed back to the ballroom, looking for her other three peers through the commotion. Soon she noticed people's shadows swaying, then looked up at the chandelier above. She saw a silhouette hanging onto it.  
Somehow she knew that he was the murderer, so she had to figure out a way to get up there. She looked all around some sort of lever to lower a chandelier (like they have in order to light them) so she could climb up and shoot the man. When she couldn't find one, she knew there must've been a staircase up to an attic of some sort that would open up up there.  
Merida went up the grand staircase and behind the curtain because she remembered seeing a lot of backstage stuff behind there. She found a staircase, and it led her up to exactly where she'd thought it would. She took a leap of faith towards the first chandelier, then another towards the second, making the shadows swing even more and drawing attention.  
"Ginger! You're not playing along as I told you to!" said the silhouette, but he was no longer a silhouette. Up here, the candles on the chandeliers illuminated him.  
"Don't call me Ginger, ye donkey!" she shouted at him, then fired her first arrow lightning fast.  
The villain was faster, dodging it as it zipped past and wedged itself into the wall.  
"I won't kill you if you agree to my terms!" he chanted at her.  
She only shot another arrow, which he was fast enough to actually catch. Merida was taken a bit aback at this.  
"So sorry, Ginger," he jeered, then swung his chandelier back so that it swung forward, close to Merida's. Then he reached out with the arrow he caught and chopped the chains off of her chandelier.  
Merida felt her stomach drop, and while the while ballroom was screaming during the chandelier swinging, they were screeching now.  
The falling of the giant chandelier from the ceiling onto the blood-splattered floor after lost lives had commenced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may or may not have jumped through some writing hoops in order to name the chapter Ballroom Blitz, as in the song Ballroom Blitz by Sweet, just to make it fit the entire chapter AND connect it to another one of my favorite songs... =)


	20. Rapunzel was Still in Her Room

Rapunzel was still in her room, scared past death, and literally. She had started to worry, though. Not only about if her killer might pick the lock and come back inside, but if Merida, Elsa, Jack, and Hiccup were okay. She was torn between cowering in the corner and going out to help.  
Suddenly there was a loud banging at the door. This scared the crap out of Rapunzel, but she calmed a little when she heard Hiccup's voice. "Is anybody in here at all?!" he asked. He sounded desperate.  
"Yeah," Rapunzel squeaked.  
"Please open the door!" he pleaded.  
Tentatively, Rapunzel scooted over to the door. She unlocked it slowly, and immediately Hiccup burst through the door, scrambling to the wall just like Rapunzel had.  
"Close it!" Hiccup ordered, and Rapunzel slammed it and locked it ten times faster than she'd opened it. At least now she felt a little safer with a man around, although it was Hiccup.  
She noticed he had a slit on his throat, and she touched her own in empathy. "Uh..."  
"I was threatened!" he explained, touching his neck like she. "This guy just came up with this knife to my throat... h-he told me to step down if I was chosen and choose Elsa instead..."  
"That's what happened to Merida!" Rapunzel connected. "She said the guys wants Elsa to rule for whatever reason, and also she had the same wound on her neck!" They both weren't really sure what this was supposed to mean.  
"I died, you know," Rapunzel decided to say after a few moments.  
"So that's what all this, uh... blood is for, huh?" Hiccup commented, becoming his apathetic self again.  
"Yeah," she confirmed, his calmness helping hers. There was more silence.  
"Do you know what's up with Jack, Elsa, and Merida?" Rapunzel inquired.  
"No," Hiccup said, "but my guess is Elsa is being pampered and Jack is dead." Rapunzel flinched. "Sorry to be so blunt," he apologized. "It's just that if he wants Elsa to rule, he's got to have done all he can to protect her and spoil her, and Jack... OH NO."  
"What?" Rapunzel questioned, her adrenaline starting to run again.  
"T-that guy, who apparently was kissing Elsa, it's him! He pushed me all threateningly, and... sorry, Jack's definitely gone. But you can bring her back though, right?"  
"I brought myself back," Rapunzel said, "so yeah."  
"Then we don't have any problems, at all," Hiccup concluded.


	21. It's Not That Big of a Deal

"It's not that big of a deal, Jack," Elsa tried to plead with the boy after she'd led him out from the balcony into the ballroom. She held her hands around her arms because she was cold, although subconsciously she knew she could never be cold.  
"But why? He just grabbed you and started kissing you!" Jack complained.  
"You did too!" Elsa stung, stopping walking and facing him.  
"Not... really..." Jack tried to argue.  
"Then what was it?" Elsa interrogated.  
Jack took a breath to control his anger, but also his sadness at how Elsa was treating him. "I didn't grab your back and smash you into my face. Also, you hugged me first, so I assumed you were open to the kiss."  
"Well you sure showed your confidence when you ran away afterwards," Elsa growled, and she turned a corner, almost stomping away. When she was out of his line of vision, she leaned against the wall and let a tear slide past one of her eyes. She went to wipe it off her cheek only to discover it was frozen to her skin. Then she wiped it more angrily as if it would unfreeze that way, then turned another corner and ran into Hans.  
"Elsa, what's wrong?" he asked, full of concern.  
"Jack... doesn't understand," Elsa explained with clipped information.  
Hans held her head gently in his hands, and moved his tumb to wipe away her tear.  
What Elsa didn't noticed was that the tear wiped right off her face.


	22. Running

Running his hands through his hair, Jack was frustrated with himself. He'd gone into a random hall, away from the party, to think about how he'd messed up his budding relationship with Elsa.  
He'd been sitting in that hall for a while, waiting out the party.  
"What are you doing here?" he suddenly heard someone say. He sat up straight and saw the trainer.  
"I messed some stuff up," Jack explained with clipped information. He slouched back against the wall again.  
"What was it?" the trainer inquired, sitting next to him. He wasn't used to her being so personal and gentle, but he needed someone to talk to.  
"My relationship with Elsa. See, this guy, total dirtbag, just started kissing her, like, smushing her onto his face, as soon as he saw me. He was a stupid, dirty liar saying that Elsa kissed him when I obviously saw otherwise, but that was after, I uh, punched him," Jack explained. "Elsa got mad at me for that part."  
The trainer sighed. "Maybe it's better that way."  
"Why?" he questioned, getting a little offended.  
"The curse of immortality," the trainer said. "If you or Elsa become king or queen, one of you will have to watch the other succumb to mortality."  
Jack had never thought about that before. He thought now that maybe he should just drop this thing with Elsa, at least until it was determined that neither of them became the new leader.  
"Yeah," Jack agreed, "I'll leave her be."  
Suddenly there was much screaming, and a large shattering sound drowned it out for only a moment. Jack and the trainer races back to the ballroom to see what it was, and found themselves followed up by Rapunzel and Hiccup.  
"I died earlier!" Rapunzel told them.  
"What she means is that there's a murderer running around!" Hiccup clarified.  
Jack seethed. "And I know exactly who it is..." he growled, and ran off to the ballroom ahead of the other three.


	23. Racing

Racing after Jack, Hiccup and he stopped short at the sight of a chandelier shattered on the ballroom floor. They had both heard the crash, but couldn't have guessed that this was what it was. Rapunzel and the instructor came up behind them, reacting the same way.  
Jack sped off to the left, and Hiccup followed after. He had the feeling Jack was going to get himself into grave danger, taking into consideration what happened earlier when the only crime committed was a kiss.  
Then Hiccup saws hat Jack was actually running after the murderer, so he tried to run faster to stop Jack before he did anything.  
Too late, the villain turned a corner, JAck right after him, but as Hiccup finally turned it he gasped. Apparently, the killer knew that Jack was chasing him, then waited around the corner for Jack to run into the knife he held out.  
Jack clutched his gut, which still held the blade, and blood ran past his fingers. Then the murderer yanked out his dagger, letting Jack collapse harshly onto the ground. The villain looked sharply up at Hiccup, who ran as fast as he could. He never knew he could run so fast. His goal was to find Rapunzel quickly, but his vision was directed towards the fallen chandelier when he noticed a cloud of curly-red.  
"Merida!" Hiccup recognized aloud, and he rushed now over to her to at least see if she was still live.  
Climbing carefully over and around glass and candles, he saw her body lay limp. His heart sped, but slowed when he checked her pulse. She was still alive, just knocked out.  
"It doesn't matter anyway," Hiccup whispered to himself, "Rapunzel can heal any of us," and he ran to her, not looking back to see how close the killer possibly was behind him.  
Rapunzel and the instructor were still standing where Hiccup had left them. "Rapunzel, you're needed!"  
Hiccup could feel her pulse as he dragged her by the hand through the crowd, and by the look on her face, he could tell she was absolutely terrified. Being killed before had taken a toll on her.  
"Here," Hiccup said, turning that same corner, assuming the villain had been chasing him before.  
He know he was wrong once he found the same fate as Jack: running straight into the killer's knife.  
Rapunzel screamed bloody murder right next to him because that's exactly what it was.


	24. Dancing

"Dancing?" Merida wondered to herself. It looked like the guests were dancing as she opened her eyes, but soon she realized that that was her vision spinning, and a throbbing headache followed soon after.  
The ballroom cheered as she stood up, and Merida realized they all thought she was dead. She remembered everything that had happened before she was knocked out.  
Then she heard a scream, and she recognized it too well as Rapunzel's.  
Merida went to sprint towards it, but that was too much for her headache. She slowed to a jog, which still bounced her head more than she liked, but she had to find out what the trouble was.  
She turned the deadly corner and saw pools of blood around two bodies: the boys. Rapunzel cried insanely next to her, but suddenly she felt a jolt through her stomach with a piercing pain.  
Piercing was right because Merida looked down to see the tip of that same blade that scathed her neck earlier poking out of her gut. It was pulled back just as suddenly as it came, which yanked her entire body backwards to crash into the wall. She sat, dumbfounded and in excruciating pain, feeling the life slip out of her.


	25. Chasing

Chasing after her own hair, Rapunzel had soon realized that she had to save her lost friends.  
She draped it over the three of them, then started to sing. Instead of her hair glowing, she saw it turning brown in the same snake-like fashion.  
Rapunzel grabbed onto the hair still on her head, realizing the weight that had been dropped from it, and screamed out, "NO!"  
"I'll spare you," the killer jeered, "since I really had already killed you before. But, alas," he held up the end of her hair he had cut, "no healing this time. Excuse me, Blondie, but I have to check on Elsa," and he walked to turn that infamous corner.  
He stopped before he turned. "Oh, it would be Brunette now, wouldn't it?" he teased, then cackled to himself as she strolled away.  
Rapunzel cried for the loss of the people who had grown to be her friends. She cried because she could do nothing about anything that was happening. Through her sorrow, she sang the song that had to be cut off short because her hair had been.  
"Flower gleam and glow  
Let your power shine  
Make the clock reverse  
Bring back what once was mine  
Heal what had been hurt  
Change the fates' design  
Save what has been lost  
Bring back what once was mine  
What once was mine..."  
She'd had her eyes closed while singing, so that she didn't have to take in the image of her her dead friends for so long, but when she opened them, the room was aglow with gold. It shined through the room and weaved past the corpses like vines, reaching every one of them.  
Slowly, as the beams of light faded, the three started to stir.


	26. Leaping

Leaping away, Hans had just told Elsa he had something important to do, and that he'd be back soon. Prior to, he let Elsa vent her troubles with Jack to him.  
She really was agitated with Jack for actin in such a way, but she didn't feel any more comfortable by complaining about him. She decided that she did love Jack, and that she would pursue a relationship with him after she got everything with the ball sorted out.  
"I'm sorry, Elsa," Hans said just about a half an hour after he said he'd be back soon, "I've got only a few more things to do, I will be back!" and he kept walking.  
About an hour after that, Elsa decided to abandon Hans and go back to the ballroom. On her way there she heard a large crash, and it came from the ballroom. She arrived there, seeing that an giant chandelier had fallen from the ceiling. Then she noticed across the entire room that Hiccup, Jack, Rapunzel, and the instructor were standing at the edge of a hallway like she was. She saw Jack dash towards the far corner of the ballroom, and Hiccup casing after him.  
Elsa tried to see what that was all about, making slow progress navigating through the hectic swarms of people. She was stopped midway by Hans.  
"Elsa, I've been looking all over for you! I was worried the chandelier had crushed you!" he said, full of sincerity. Only now that Elsa had decided upon Jack, she didn't reciprocate any romantic feelings.  
"Uh, yeah, I'm fine, I'm just trying to get over to someone," she explained.  
"You should get to somewhere safe!" Hans suggested. "Did you hear that there's a murderer on the loose? Apparently he's the one that dropped the chandelier!"  
This news scared Elsa, but she was still determined. "That's more of a reason, then, to check and make sure my friends are okay!"  
"Has it occurred to you that any one of them could be the murderer?" Hans questioned. "They could be killing to win their way to the throne!"  
Elsa unknowingly sling Hiccup's words back at him when she spat, "Well I trust Jack more than you, you know!" and she shoved past him to where she'd last seen the two boys running. She was fairly confident, though, that they weren't in that exact spot anymore; it had taken her entirely too long to weave through chaotic people.  
Elsa barely glimpsed them beige she was pulled around the corner by many different hands. She fell on the floor from the force, and the first thing she saw was the blood she landed in. She screamed, but was cut short by two hands around her mouth. "Shhh!" their owner urged her. She peeled away forcefully, then spun around to face her capturer. Jack had been the one to shush her, and Hiccup, Merida, and Rapunzel stood around him.  
"Sorry," Jack apologized, "but he might've heard you."  
The second thing Elsa noticed was Rapunzel's short -- not to mention brown -- hair. "Rapunzel...?"  
"He killed them three, then cut my hair so I couldn't heal them!" Rapunzel explained. "Luckily, tears work wonders."  
Elsa was still very confused, but was picking up a little bit. "That's what all the blood is for... Hans said there was a murderer about!"  
"That's the guy Jack punched? Hans?" Hiccup asked.  
"Yeah," Elsa confirmed.  
"Well," Merida stated, "so far, the only one of us he hasn't killed is y'u."


	27. Bounding

Bounding towards the door, Jack was stopped by Hiccup. "I couldn't stop you from two stupid things before," he said, "so I can't let you do one a third time."  
"But Hans is probably on the prowl for Elsa right now!" Jack argued.  
"We will have to stop him, but all I'm saying is that we need a plan," Hiccup clarifyed.  
"How can we possibly plan anything when we don't even know where he is?" Rapunzel wondered.  
"We'll just have to go with something that works no matter where Hans is," Hiccup reasoned. "Any ideas?"  
"I say we just run up and stab the donkey with a sword!" Merida suggested jubilantly.  
"... no," Hiccup dismissed.  
The others continued to come up with ideas that Hiccup turned down. Meanwhile, Jack tried to conjure something up on his own.  
"Elsa would need to act as bait, probably," he spoke up in the middle of a heated argument about why randok acts of violence weren't a good ideas.  
"Surprised that you of all people would suggest that," Hiccup commented, "but I think that's good. That way, we can control the environment."  
"Why are we not lookin' to kill him?" Merida questioned. "He's already killed five persons!"  
"If we just harm him, it'll be hard to convince everyone that he's the bad guy, and not us," Elsa explained. Merida huffed.  
"Then we need something that'll make him admit what he did," Jack figured.  
"Any one of us could make him do that, except me and Elsa. No one else knows you died, but Hans made it happen. He thinks you're dead for good, and seeing you alive would scare him bad," Rapunzel noted.  
"That's true," Hiccup agreed. "I think we should use that. Now all we have to do it set it up."


	28. Hair Flying

"Hair flying," Rapunzel suggested, "should be incorporated into something, just to show Hans that my hair is still cut and scare him extra much wondering how on earth you're alive!"  
"Well, okay," Hiccup took a mental note.  
"But reject all ME ideas, o'course!" Merida complained.  
"Merida, if you have a non-violent idea to contribute, I'll gladly put it into the plan," Hiccup assured her.  
"Fine. I get to hair swing," Merida said.  
Hiccup sighed. "That wasn't an idea as much as it was an order, but okay."  
"How do we incorporate that?" Jack asked.  
"I know how to reach the ceiling of the ballroom, so if we hang the hair up there, I can swing from it up to Hans, who would be attracted to whatever place we figured out -- perhaps the top of the stairs -- and surprise him withheld fact that I'm alive," Merida formulated. "He would probably say something to the extent of 'I thought you were dead!' an' then I could ask him why he thought so, drawin' the attention of the crowd to him, and get him to reveal himself."  
"That sounds like a good idea," Hiccup encouraged, "and the rest of us could even go around in the crowd directing people's attention to the scene and explaining what we were trying to show."  
"Let's set it up and get to it!" Elsa motivated enthusiastically.  
"You're ready to be bait?" Jack checked with her.  
"I'll be anything to capture the criminal who killed you and my friends," she replied.  
Hiccup noticed that Elsa separated Jack from "friends", meaning that they were maybe something a little more.


	29. Heart Pounding

Heart pounding, Merida made her way up the steps to the same ceiling she'd been near just about a half an hour before. She was extremely nervous because last time she'd been up there, she'd fallen and almost died.  
As much as she tried to reassure herself that she'd been through death and back again, therefore could face anything that came her way, her natural survival instincts told her to climb back down the stairs. She wasn't used to having that flutter feeling throughout her chest; more often than not she was brave.  
Merida tied one end of what used to be Rapunzel's golden locks to the chandelier in front of her. She couldn't help but notice the severed chain behind it and think of her last fall. She tied the other end of the hair around her waist for extra precaution.  
She looked down at the top of the staircase, seeing Elsa upon it. Merida was supposed to wait for Hans to come up to her before she swooped down, so now all she could do was wait.


	30. Splashing

Splashing her foot into a pool of blood accidentally sent chills up Rapunzel's leg and all the way through her spine. She quickly stepped out of the mess, redirecting her eyes back to Elsa at the top of the staircase. She was waiting for Hans to take the bait.  
Rapunzel went around from person to person, telling them that if they saw Hans that Elsa wanted him at the top of the stairs, which wasn't even a lie.  
Every now and then she'd glance up at Merida, who was perched on a chandelier, ready to pounce. Rapunzel really thought that she should be the one hair flying, considering her experience, but it was Merida who knew the way up there, and they needed as many people on the ground as they could in case something went wrong.  
Now all ahe could do was wait.


	31. Reeling

Reeling in Hans just as if he was a fish she'd caught on a line, Elsa tried her best not to fidget or let herself seem afraid. She couldn't let him know that she knew what he'd done.  
"Elsa, I'm so sorry," Hans apologized, and Elsa wasn't really sure what he was apologizing for. "I hope you trust me more than Jack, eventually."  
Elsa was distracted by waiting for Merida tossing down at any second, but she had to act casual and keep up the conversation. "Yeah, maybe," she replied almost absentmindedly.  
"Come with me," Hans said, walking down one step and holding out his hand for her to take.  
Elsa started freaking out internally, knowing full and well that they were supposed to stay here for the plan to work. She decided to try and pretend-play hard-to-get.  
"I'd like to stay up here," she stated as if she was trying too hard to be casual, which was exactly what she was going for.  
"Why?" Hans questioned, retracting his hand slightly and gaining a confused look on his face.  
"Because," Elsa replied snootily, crossing her arms and turning away slightly. She felt like her act was working, but she knew she couldn't press it too hard or else Hans would get angry. Where was Merida?  
"Elsa, don't be silly," Hans pressed, and he grabbed her hand now. He pulled her down one step before he was interrupted.  
"Hey!" someone said in a way that much resembled the same word said earlier after Hans's kiss to her. It was Jack at the foot of the stairs.  
Hans froze in his tracks, but said nothing. Elsa was almost glad that Merida hadn't jumped down because Hans was extremely good at keeping up an act.  
"What do you want?" Hans sneered, wiping off his shock and tucking it someplace else.  
"I want your dirty hands to stop getting that porcelain girl all grubby," Jack struck.  
"No, it's you who taints her snowy perfection," Hans spat, still thinking he had the upper hand by complimenting Elsa. She blushed nonetheless.  
"You wanna take this outside?" Jack challenged.  
Hans paused. "Yeah," he finally agreed confidently, following Jack to the nearest exit. He motioned for Elsa to stay put before he left.  
Elsa was worried about what would happen to Jack now, but she couldn't get caught up in any of it. All she could do was wait.


	32. Jack Fought

Jack fought the urge to pounce directly onto Hans as they walked through halls. They really were taking it outside, and Hans kept tight-lipped about everything until they arrived there.  
Hans held open the door for Jack as if he was somehow still putting on a show for people who weren't around. Jack exited first, but before he could turn around Hans decked him right in the back of the head. Jack caught himself before he fell over.  
Then he turned around just in time to see Hans take another swing, but he ducked and used the force he had from jumping back up to give Hans a knock under his chin. Both persons were bleeding from their new wounds.  
"You've been through death," Hans said, "wouldn't you like to go back?"  
"I'm surprised you haven't used your knife on me again," Jack said, avoiding his question but still playing with smart-talk that was probably supposed to distract him.  
"I thought you all were over with. I left my dagger with somebody else in order to frame them," Hans explained. "It's really too bad."  
"So then it's just fists and fists," Jack said, not allowing time for Hans to respond as he punched him in the gut. This knocked the wind out of the killer.  
"Give up," Jack told him, "it's really not worth your time."  
"But I'm fascinated at how you came back to life," Hans said weakly due to his most recent hit.  
"Not of your business!" Jack exclaimed, then hit Hans in the shoulder; a miss from trying to hit him in the neck.  
"Why you all talk and no fight?" Jack asked as Hans regained himself. "There's no one around to pity you."  
"Semantics are always the best strategy," Hans sneered mysteriously, then unexpectedly kicked his foot out to knock Jack off his feet. "They leave your opponent distracted."  
Jack pushed off the ground to get up, but mid-stand Hans grabbed the collar of his shirt and held him in the air with surprising strength.  
"I've also got some other tricks up my sleeve," he threatened, his breath abnormally hot.  
Suddenly Hans dropped Jack to the ground, then backed away as a ring of fire formed around Jack.  
Hans came at him from all different directions, punching him at random. Jack could never see when or where this would happen because he couldn't see his attacker through the fire.  
The next fist Hans threw landed a little ways away from where Jack stood, so Jack took advantage of that and grabbed his wrist. He slung Hans to the ground with the force from Hans's punch, surprising the murderer a bit.  
Jack was sweating profusely from the surrounding flames, but Hans stayed clean. He also wasn't as overwhelmingly exhausted by the heat as Jack.  
"I can't kill you again, you know," Hans stated.  
"Yeah, you don't have your knife!" Jack was just smart mouthing.  
Hans rolled his eyes at that. "Because why would I kill you again?" he continued. "You'd come back to life."  
Jack swung his fist again, but it was weak, and Hans had no trouble avoiding it. In reply, he gave Jack a bloody nose. The victim fell over from the force of it.  
"I'll stop this torture if you just agree that you'll step down if chosen and choose Elsa in your stead," Hans proposed.  
"Why do you want her queen so bad anyway?" Jack interrogated.  
"Isn't it obvious?" Hans gibed. Still, he refused to reveal his plan.  
Jack quickly put the pieces together: Hans was snuggling up to Elsa, so if he wanted her queen, he wanted to marry her and be king!  
"But you wouldn't be immortal like Elsa!" Jack noted.  
Hans chuckled to himself. "You finally figured it out."  
He continued, "No, I wouldn't, but why would I care what happens past my lifetime? I just want the satisfaction of ruling over peasants and receiving whatever I desire."  
That was the single greediest, dirt-baggiest thing Jack had ever heard.  
"Too bad!" Jack shouted, now kicking Hans's legs out from under him.  
Hans landed on his stomach, his hand now touching the chin he just smashed into the dirt that was bleeding.  
Jack noticed something shining in Hans's back pocket, and soon recognized it as a knife. Hans had lied about his knife and was only trying to seem negotiable; he would've killed Jack if he refused to go according to his plan, even if he thought Jack would come back to life.  
Hans's goal, Jack figured, was to put him through immense death-causing pain, only for him to come back to life and repeat the process until he agreed to the terms. That was probably why Hans had his threatening fire out, but not his knife; a fire might hurt terribly, but a knife would hurt longer and deeper.  
Hans got up in the time it took for Jack to deduce these things, which actually want very long. Now Jack had to get Hans on his back again and grab the knife, killing the killer.  
Jack tried to kick Hans's legs again, but Hans expected it and took a step back as Jack swung. Jack then stoodup for plan B, which he didn't really know what entailed in it.  
Thinking quickly, Jack punched Hans, hitting his forehead. Hans was discombobulated for only a moment, so Jack took advantage of that moment to grab Hans by the shoulders and make him bite the dust, literally.  
Jack pressed his knees into the man on the ground, stealing his knife and raising it into the air. He hesitated, even though he knew full and well that Hans had deserved this. No matter how hard he tried, Jack couldn't bring himself to kill another man.  
To Jack's luck, Hans started to stand up and brought his own back into the knife. The man stopped, starting to realize what had just happened, then suddenly coughed up blood. The dagger had pierced his stomach.  
Jack back away from the horrifying sight, forgetting to take the knife with him, making the scene look all the more terrible. The fires around them started to fade out as Hans did, and eventually the killer collapsed. He was dead indeed.  
Surrounding applause took Jakc by surprise, so he looked to where it was coming from. He noticed all the guests at the windows above, clapping for the villain's demise.  
Jack walked inside, slightly confused, and also bombarded by his new fans. Then Rapunzel came over to him.  
"We explained to everyone what was going on," she gushed, "and they all believed us! Then they saw you take Hans outside, and we all went to the windows to watch. We saw what happened above the circle of flames, and everyone's really impressed!"  
Merida walked up to him now, Hiccup and Elsa not far behind. "They'll be choosin' a new heir soon," Merida informed. She looked a bit ashamed with herself, and Jack remembered that she hadn't carries out her part of the plan. Right now, that didn't matter.  
"Today?" he questioned. Merida nodded.  
"A new heir is to be chosen now!" a booming voice announced as if on cue, and so the five candidates made their way over to the ballroom and the top of the grand staircase. They stood in a line in front of the owner of the booming voice and a depressed-looking trainer.  
"I've been told you all have excellent skills," the man behind them said loud enough for everyone to hear, "but only one of you is to be the new king or queen."  
He explained, "Do not be to alarmed when your instructor here touches you, for when she does she is passing down the crown and you will receive the powers of ice and immortality. As I've been informed, this transformation might feel strange. Now, Gracie, if you will touch the one I name."  
It struck Jack suddenly that his trainer's name was Gracie and he hadn't ever known. Then even more suddenly came a sort of rushing feeling through his veins and every fiber of his being, clouding his vision and churning the butterflies in his stomach. All the while he felt the hands on his shoulders that he knew to be his trainer's, grubbing him with care and sorrow. Jack realized who she was at that moment.  
As his vision returned, he felt one final chill through his body that didn't leave. He looked at his hands to see if he looked any different and saw that his skin was a sort of familiar pale. It was Elsa's skin that it reminded him of, and then he remembered with a stab of sadness what his trainer had said about immortality.  
He looked to Elsa, who looked back at him. He'd said he was going to let her go, but he just couldn't. He couldn't let something that precious slip from his grasp.  
"Jack," the man said loudly again, "you've been chosen due to your lightheartedness towards life, that which will bring cheer upon your people. You were also chosen for your quick-thinking, which will ensure that your kingdom will always be taken care of in the best way. Your hesitation at taking a life will also be greatly beneficial to your country." The way the man mentioned the kingdom like it was Jack's possession made him shiver. "Lastly but not least of all, you were chosen for your bravery in confronting something that any other person would back away from, give in to, or think was utterly impossible. This is a good ambitious attitude that will destine this kingdom for greatness."  
"Long live the king!" crowd chanted and cheered, not realizing its blade of literal meaning. This made Jack's eyes water a bit, and made him look to Elsa. She looked to him as well, knowing better than the crowd what they were saying.  
Instead of continuing the party ended so that the chandelier and all signs of murder could be cleaned up. Elsa and Jack stayed at the top of the stairs while the others climbed down.  
"You look really different," Elsa commented as she broke the line to stand face-to-face with Jack.  
"Really?" Jack asked. He didn't think so.  
"Yeah," Elsa confirmed, "your hair turned white!"  
Jack grabbed his scalp as if touching it would let him see the color, then breathed a light laugh at the thought of him with white hair instead of what used to be his natural brown.  
"I look like you!" Jack joked, and they both laughed at that. Then they grew silent for a while.  
"Elsa, we're young," he ventured to say as he took her hand in his two, "but we won't be for long. I want to spend as much of my life with you as I possibly can before yours runs out."  
Elsa covered her mouth with her other hand as she gasped at her realization. Jack got down on one knee.  
"Elsa, will... will you marry me?"  
Elsa couldn't suppress her tears as she nodded a yes. They both cried, and not purely out of joy, as they embraced.  
"I miss you already," Jack choked.  
"There's no time for missing me," Elsa declared, "we need a wedding as soon as possible."


	33. I Cried

I cried as I watched from the bottom of the stairs. Jack had just proposed to Elsa, and I'd found myself wishing that either me or my long lost lover had the guys to do that. But maybe it was better that I didn't have a child as a reminder of him.  
I did, however, have a picture of him and me when he was young in my desk drawer. Maybe that's more painful that a kid, but it doesn't matter now.  
I patted Merida on the back as I passed by her. "It's okay that you were scared to jump," I told her, knowing their entire plan and keeping in mind how she's fallen from the chandelier earlier. She looked at me with a faint smile.  
I was there when the three who weren't to become monarchs were carried away in their separate carriages, off to their separate homes. I knew they'd all become close friends, but how they could possibly keep in touch was behind me. Hiccup did have a fast dragon, I remembered, to whom I'd also said my farewells. Toothless had griped about not being able to fly his master home.  
I was also there when Jack and Elsa had gotten married, which was three days after the ball. They'd invited their friends back then, and I was secretly happy to see my students again.  
I cried like a baby during the wedding, though. As much as it was being happy for the two who were like my children, it was just as much over how I couldn't stop imagining me and my sweetheart saying our vows. My dear, lost sweetheart.  
To this day, still only Merida knows about my past. Perhaps Jack and Elsa will someday, them living in the same castle as me and all, but I was planning on exploring the entire world. It was something to do with my life besides burying myself alive, which monarchs often did after finding themselves completely useless and insane.  
I'm torn between that and staying to watch Jack and Elsa have a child. I wanted to be a part of that child's life, to watch them grow, but I also didn't want to see when they'd become a ruler, doomed to the same fate as their father and myself, and the many leaders before them. I also couldn't them lose their mother, or spiral into insanity as I had and as their father also probably would.  
Perhaps I'll stay for the next fourteen years, then make my getaway to lands unknown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized a plot hole when writing part two in this series, Building the House of Memories, so I discussed it there.
> 
> Comment here or on Building the House of Memories if you want me to write what Gracie's life is like after this story (recall that she wanted to travel around the world).


End file.
